Agatha Christie Limited promotes reading (or re-reading) Christie books through their Read Christie campaigns. Each month a different novel is selected that will be a focus of their online book club. The choice for January 2025 is Five Little Pigs. Of note, this book is considered by many as one of her best novels, if not the best. There are many reasons for this, including the novel's structure, characters and plot. Even the contemporary press in the UK and US were very positive when the book was released. Consequently it is an excellent book to read or re-read.
In addition to enjoying reading the novel, this article adds to the book of the month focus, by providing all the details on the book's publication history from first editions to paperbacks. Tips for collectors are provided including identification points and current valuations.
Five Little Pigs (US title: Murder in Retrospect).
First and foremost, readers and collectors need to know that Five Little Pigs is one of the ‘national variant’ books where the US and UK editions vary. While the text is generally the same, Dodd Mead used the serialised version of the story for its hardback which was framed significantly differently than the manuscript version used by Collins. In the UK version the novel is framed into segments – an ‘Introduction’, ‘Book I’, ‘Book II’ and ‘Book III’. Each ‘book’ is then further delineated into titled chapters – many playing off the novel’s nursery rhyme theme of ‘Five Little Pigs’. Collier’s Weekly restructured the story to provide 10 equal length installments. To accomplish this Collier’s eliminated the entire structure of the novel and repackaged all the edited chapters into ten new equal length segments – Chapters 1 – 9, plus a ‘Conclusion’. Dodd Mead retained this format when they printed the novel, which meant readers of the US version lose the framing and structure Christie created. Many collectors may want to own both versions so that they can compare the differences.
First Appearance:
With the title of Murder in Retrospect, this novel was first serialised in Collier's Weekly, an American weekly magazine. Surprisingly there was no mention of the story on the cover of the magazine. The novel was abridged and reformated to create ten instalments that were published from 20 September (Vol. 108, No. 12) to 22 November 1941 (Vol. 108, No. 21). Original art work was created to accompany the instalments. This novel was not serialised in the U.K.
First Editions.
First Hardback:
The novel was first published as a book in the US in May 1942, by Dodd Mead and Company (New York), also with the title Murder in Retrospect (above left). The first edition book has black-stamped blue cloth and the dust jacket shows a price of $2.00 on the front flap. Note: the copyright for this book states 1941, 1942 while the title page solely states 1942. This is because the Collier's Weekly serialisation was published in the prior year. The first edition is getting much harder to find and the value for a book and jacket in 'very good' condition is around $800, while the book alone is fairly valued at $200.
First UK Hardback:
The first British publication was in January 1943, by Collins' The Crime Club (image above right). Note: the copyright for this book states 1942 despite its publication being in 1943. This often leads to incorrect listing details by sellers. The first edition book was published in black-stamped orange cloth. There are two versions of the first edition jacket - one where the price on the flap states '8/- net' and the other that states '8s net'. A minor variance but worth noting and as of now there is no known sequencing or explanation.
Collectors should be wary of later edition dust jackets (usually priced 4/-) that are frequently married to first printings. While the front panel has the same art, the rear panel is different so if the price has been clipped off be cautious. The rear panel of the true first edition has an announcement to members of the Crime Club that the newsletter is being discontinued due to the war. This book was fairly common a few years ago now, but finding a first in an unchipped correct jacket is now quite challenging. The value for a 'very good' book by itself is likely £250 and one with a jacket in 'very good' condition will now exceed £1,000.
Other Collectibles.
First Playscript:
Agatha Christie rewrote this novel into a play, titled Go Back For Murder, with Poirot removed from the story. The play was first performed at The Duchess Theatre in London in 1960 and was produced by Peter Saunders. The play was first published in wraps by Samuel French, London dated 1960, priced 6s. net on the spine. Of note, this playscript includes added comments from Agatha Christie about how the characters should be played given the play covers a 16 year span. For collectors, plays are also getting harder to find and in my opinion are underappreciated as collectibles - especially those written by Christie as this one is. Fortunately that means a 'very good' first printing can generally be acquired for under £50.
First Omnibus.
In 1960, this novel was included in Murder Preferred - an omnibus published by Dodd Mead & Co, New York, US. It contained three novels: The Patriotic Murders (UK title: One, Two, Buckle my Shoe), A Murder is Announced and Murder in Retrospect (UK title: Five Little Pigs). Like many Dodd Mead titles of this era, there is both a regular edition and a Book Club edition with the same content (noted book club on front flap). The regular edition was published in October 1960, and sold for $4.95. It is much harder to find in a jacket than the book club edition. When found, it can generally be acquired for around $30.
The Folio Edition.
In 2020, The Folio Society issued their version of Five Little Pigs. Many people collect these books because of their overall production quality and the artwork within. While The Folio Society does not disclose the complete print run, but they do say it is ‘several thousand’. Compared to a typical hardback release from a best-selling author, this is quite limited which will drive up valuations over time from the original price of £36.95 UK or $54.95 US. The seven full colour illustrations, plus the blocked cover art, are all by Andrew Davidson. His artwork integrates well with the story and he is clearly a talented artist. His aesthetic is spot on for Christies where the typical reader and fan wants a sense of nostalgia and authenticity.
Paperback Editions.
First Paperback.
The first paperback of Five Little Pigs was published by Alfred Scherz Publishers (Berne, Switzerland) circa April 1944. It was part of Scherz's Phoenix imprints and was numbered 22. For more information on the Scherz paperbacks, which include many true first paperbacks of Christie novels, my full article can be found at this link. It is a challenging book to find and one should expect to pay up to €50 for a 'very good' copy.
British Paperbacks.
The first British paperbacks were published by Collins as follows:
1945: Collins Services edition, numbered c305. While this book was not available for general sale collectors still view it as the first British edition. These are scarce so expect to pay £150 for a 'very good' copy.
1947 (June): Collins White Circle edition number 168c. This was the first Collins paperback for general sale. It was not dated, has a dark cover and is known unpriced. Current value for a 'very good' copy is £25. Later reprints generally sell for used book prices.
1951 (January): Collins White Circle edition number 197c: (1st reissue).
American Paperbacks.
The first US paperbacks were as follows:
1945: Bestseller Mystery's Jonathan Press Mystery imprint, numbered J16. Published under the title Murder in Retrospect. Note that sellers often incorrectly date this as a 1942 publication due to the copyright cited. The actual publication date was not stated in the book (image: below left). Value: $25.
1948: Dell Books number 257. This was part of the 'map back' series of Dell books which are very collectible and great fun to own (image: below middle & right). Value: $10.
Other printings of note.
There are a number of other paperback printings often collected. Values are mostly consistent with used paperback prices. These are as follows:
1953: Pan Books, number 264. This book was reprinted in 1954 and 1955 with the same cover design. It can be found without a price or with a 2/- price on the cover.
1959: Fontana Books, series number 309. This is the first Fontana printing.
1968: Fontana Books, series number 1723. This is the 5th Fontana impression. The new cover art is by Ian Robertson. This is a surprisingly difficult title to locate with this cover. If you need one, but whatever you find and upgrade its condition later as needed if a better one shows up.
1971: Fontana Books, series number 2603. This is the first cover by Tom Adams.
1981: Fontana Books, series number 6372. This is the Martin Baker cover. Since there are no pigs in the story, this cover design is sometimes questioned but the original Crime Club first edition also only had pig images on it!
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As I usually do, I've likely missed a few things or made a few errors - so do get in contact with me if there's an improvement to be made to this article. I view all my articles as collaborative efforts and want them to be an accurate resource for collectors. I have lots more articles I'm working on but if there's something you'd like me to consider do let me know by writing to me at: collectchristie@gmail.com
Happy Hunting!
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